Stifel Financial Corp Sells 14,973 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 13.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14,973 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Lazard were worth $4,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 1,125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 58.9% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the second quarter worth $87,000. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the second quarter valued at $88,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Lazard Stock Down 1.0 %

LAZ opened at $53.00 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.92. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.65 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.68%.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.